Product display system

ABSTRACT

An inexpensive, easy to assemble and durable product display system is disclosed. The system includes a plurality of elongated dividers, a base member and an alignment member. The dividers have sufficient rigidity to resist bending and to provide guidance of products placed between adjacent dividers. The base member includes a plurality of divider positioning cavities operatively associated with a first end of the divider which allow placement of the dividers in a predetermined configuration to accommodate a desired size of products. The alignment member receives a second end of the divider and retains the dividers in the predetermined configuration.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.60/599,812 filed Aug. 5, 2005.

BACKGROUND ART

The present invention generally relates to an adjustable, gravity-fedproduct display system. In an embodiment, the display system includes aplurality of elongated dividers for guiding products, a base memberhaving a plurality of divider positioning cavities for allowingplacement of the dividers in a predetermined configuration, and analignment member for retaining the dividers in the configuration. Thedisplay system provides for the easy loading, organization, storage,shipment, display, promotion and dispensing of containerized or packagedgoods, for example, goods contained within jars, bottles, cans andboxes.

Adjustable product display and dispensing units are known. For example,a wide variety of modular display devices have been designed andmanufactured for use in organizing and merchandising shelved products toconsumers. Supermarkets and other retail stores commonly utilize thedisplays to show and focus attention on the products displayed therein.One of the problems associated with storing and displaying shelvedproducts to consumers is the inefficient use of available space and theinability of merchants to continuously supply products at the front ofthe shelf within easy reach of consumers. In an effort to overcome poorutilization of shelf space, gravity fed shelving displays have beendesigned whereby products positioned thereon are automatically movedtowards the front of the shelf structure so as to be readily accessibleand easily visible to consumers. Such gravity fed shelving displays aretypically characterized by cumbersome and expensive constructions, whichinclude multiple component parts and complicated support framestructures.

It is also common practice to provide product display apparatus toproduct manufacturers for loading, organizing and shipping products toretailers. The retailers set up the loaded product displays within theirretail stores. Such product displays typically include a housing made ofcardboard and multiple interior cardboard dividers or wire guides, andare delivered in kit form to the manufacturers' site for assembly andloading of products. A manufacturer may hire a third party co-packer toassemble such display devices and to load them with products forshipping to retailers. Such cardboard containers tend to be difficult toassemble, are somewhat flimsy, and usually are not reusable.Consequently, due to the time and effort required to assemble and loadsuch product displays, manufacturers pay the co-packers increased feesand that cost is either passed on to consumers or eats into profits.Furthermore, the interior cardboard dividers or wire guides are prone tobending which may cause loaded products to jam during dispensingoperations at the retail stores. In addition, such product displaystypically deteriorate during use at the retail site, causing the productdisplay to appear unappealing to consumers. Furthermore, these productdisplays usually fall apart during or immediately after use in theretail store and thus cannot be reused.

A need therefore exists for a product display that is inexpensive,simple to assemble, durable, and that is sturdy and presentable so as tomeet the display and dispensing requirements of retailers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Presented is an inexpensive, easy to assemble and durable productdisplay system. The system includes a plurality of elongated dividers, abase member and an alignment member. The dividers have sufficientrigidity to resist bending and to provide guidance of products placedbetween adjacent dividers. The base member includes a plurality ofdivider positioning cavities operatively associated with a first end ofthe divider which allow placement of the dividers in a predeterminedconfiguration to accommodate a desired size of products. The alignmentmember receives a second end of the divider and retains the dividers inthe predetermined configuration.

In a preferred embodiment, the product display includes a housing forsecuring the base member and alignment member, and for snap-fitting thedividers therebetween. The housing may include a top wall, a bottomwall, a first side wall, a second side wall, and a rear wall.Advantageously, the base member has a product support surface that isangled towards the rear wall to aid in retaining products therein. Therear wall may be of a size to form an opening used for dispensingproducts. In addition, the alignment member beneficially includes asurface that is biased towards the base member when the product displayis assembled, and the surface of the alignment member includes a patternof cavities that correspond to the pattern of cavities of the basemember. In another preferred embodiment, the product display includes afront panel for attachment to a front portion of the housing, the frontpanel having dimensions to form an opening above the base member fordispensing of products.

In another preferred embodiment according to the invention, the housing,base member and alignment member are of one piece construction. The onepiece construction may be a substantially planar form that has beenpre-cut and pre-scored to facilitate assembly, and may be made out of apaper composite material. In addition, an advantageous implementationincludes a base member and an alignment member that are configured suchthat the dividers are snap-fit thereto, and the dividers are configuredto provide uninterrupted vertical movement of products placed betweenadjacent dividers.

The product display is advantageously made out of at least one of apaper composite material, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, plastic,rubber, fiberglass, metal or other type of composite material. When atleast one of the base member and the alignment member are made of aplastic material, the predefined pattern of cavities can advantageouslybe vacuum formed. Alternatively, at least one of the base member and thealignment member may include a predefined pattern of cavities that arethrough holes or slots.

In another aspect of the invention, the base member of the productdisplay includes a plurality of pins or bosses which are operativelyassociated with the dividers to provide different placements of dividerlocations thereon. A template containing a predetermined patternassociated with the base member may be used, wherein the templateprovides placement of the dividers in a predetermined configuration toaccommodate a desired size of product to be displayed. In such animplementation, the alignment member includes a surface having apredefined pattern of slots that correspond to the pattern of thetemplate.

A product display according to the embodiments of the inventiondisclosed herein can advantageously be configured for use as at leastone of a wing rack display, a stadium cut tray, a peg wall module, or aslat wall module. The details of one or more embodiments of theinvention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the detaileddescription below. Other features and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the detailed description and drawings, and from theclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Other aspects, purposes and advantages of the invention will becomeclear after reading the following detailed description with reference tothe attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front perspective view of an assembled embodiment of aproduct display system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the product display system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective front view of an alternate embodimentof a product display system according to the invention;

FIG. 4A is a perspective front view of another alternate embodiment of aproduct display system according to the invention;

FIG. 4B is a simplified diagram of the product display system of FIG.4A, illustrating how dividers would be inserted into the housing;

FIG. 5 is a perspective front view of yet another variation of a productdisplay system according to the invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a productdisplay system according to the invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the product display system accordingto the invention installed in a retail store wing rack; and

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the product display systemaccording to the invention installed in a retail store as a stadium cuttray.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an assembled product displaysystem 10 according to the invention. The product display system 10includes a housing 2 having top, bottom, sides and a rear wall (notshown), a base member 4, and a removable front panel 5. The front panel5 may contain artwork as shown, or may include advertising or otherpromotional material. The sides of the front panel 5 may be configuredto ride in a pair of channels or tracks (not shown) in the side walls ofthe housing 2, and the front panel may be clipped or otherwise fastenedto remain in place to enable products 6 to be dispensed from the bottomof the display system 10 as shown. The products 6 are stacked in columnsinside the housing 2, and when a consumer removes a product, another ofthe same item drops down under the force of gravity to rest on the basemember 4. The product containers shown in FIG. 1 are all jars, but itshould be understood that other containers such as boxes, jars and cansof different sizes and shapes could also be housed and dispensed by theproduct display 10. The base 4 may include indentations or be otherwiseconfigured to seat a product 6.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective front view of the product displaysystem 10 of FIG. 1. The product display system 10 may be shipped to aco-packer or to a product manufacturer as a kit in pieces for assemblyat a product site, such as at a warehouse. In such a case, each productdisplay kit would include the housing 2, a base member 4, an alignmentmember 12, a plurality of dividers 14 and a front panel 5 (shown in FIG.1). The housing 2 may have a height “h” of about 24 inches, and a width“w” of about 12 inches, which are a standard dimensions for a gravityfed display for products such as aspirin or vitamins in the retailindustry. The depth “d” of the housing 2 may vary, depending on thedimensions of the product containers that are to be housed therein. Itshould be understood, however, that the housing may be larger or smallerwhich may depend on vendor requirements and the like. It is also notedthat the product support surface of the base member 4 in this example isangled towards the rear wall 11 so that products seated thereon are lesslikely to tip over and fall out of the display in the retailenvironment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the housing 2 includes a top wall 3, a bottom wall7, side walls 8 and 9, and a rear wall 11. It should be noted that therear wall 11 is optional, and could be wholly or partially removed toprovide for dispensing of products on both the front and rear sides ofthe product display. The base member 4 is shown positioned for insertioninto the bottom portion (above the bottom wall 7) of the housing, thealignment member 12 is shown positioned for insertion into the topportion (below top wall 3) of the housing to form an upper internalboundary of the display system, and a plurality of dividers 14 are shownfor insertion between the base member 4 and alignment member 12. Thelower wall 17 b of the alignment member 12 is shown as if the uppersurface 17 a is transparent for ease of understanding the positioning ofcavities 16 a to 16 h discussed below. The base member 4 and thealignment member 12 may be snap fit, friction fit, glued or otherwisesecured into place within the housing 2.

In the implementation shown, the base member 4 includes a plurality ofdivider positioning cavities labeled 15 a to 15 f, and the alignmentmember 12 includes matching or corresponding cavities 16 a to 16 h. Theplurality of divider positioning cavities 15 a to 15 f and 16 a to 16 hare operatively associated with a bottom or first end 14 a and with atop or second end 14 b of the dividers 14 which allow placement of thedividers in a predetermined configuration to accommodate desired sizesof products. In particular, referring to the base member 4, placement ofthe dividers in the configuration illustrated permits products havingfootprints A, B, C and D, which may represent four different containersizes or shapes, to be loaded and stacked within the housing 2 of theassembled product display system. The dividers are configured to provideuninterrupted vertical movement of the products placed between adjacentdividers.

The dividers 14 shown in FIG. 2 have substantially L-shaped crosssections to match the L-shaped and T-shaped cavities 15 a to 15 h and 16a to 16 h, but may be of any other cross-sectional shape that results ina divider that functions to adequately separate products and topreferably provide uninterrupted vertical passage of products betweenadjacent dividers. For example, the dividers 14 may have a C, D, H, J,S, T, U, V, W, X, Y or other geometric cross-sectional shape. Thedividers provide mechanical strength to the display and are sufficientlyrigid or non-bending to not interfere with the vertical movement ofproducts between adjacent dividers.

The product display system 10 may be assembled by first connecting thebase member and the alignment member 12 to the interior of the housing2. Next, the bottom end portion 14 a of a divider 14 is seated in acavity 15 a and a top end portion 14 b of the same divider is snap-fitinto the cavity 16 a located in the lower wall 17 b of the alignmentmember 12. The alignment member 12 is configured such that the lowerwall 17 b which contains the cavities 16 a to 16 h is biased towards thebase member 4, and may include cuts 13 a to 13 c to define separateportions to facilitate bending of those portions when the dividers 14are fitted thereto. The cavities or slots of the alignment member 12thus receive the second ends of the dividers and are biased to retainthe dividers in the predetermined configuration.

In a preferred embodiment, the housing 2, base member 4, alignmentmember 12 and dividers 14 are made of a durable, resilient plastic. Butit should be understood that other materials could also be used, such ascardboard, corrugated cardboard, wood, rubber, fiberglass, metal or acomposite material, so long as the product display components, andespecially the dividers, have sufficient rigidity to resist bending. Inparticular, when in place, the dividers must provide uninterruptedguidance of products that are loaded or placed between adjacentdividers.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective front view of an alternate embodimentof a product display system 20. The product display system 20 also maybe shipped to a co-packer or to a product manufacturer in pieces forassembly at a product site, such as a warehouse. Such a product displaykit would include the housing 2, a base member 4, and a plurality ofdividers 14 and a front panel 5 (shown in FIG. 1). The housing 2 mayhave dimensions the same as or similar to that of the housing shown inFIG. 1, but could also be of other dimensions.

In this variation, the base member 4 is of one-piece construction,having a front portion that has been folded over to form a front wall orpanel 21. As shown, the base member 4 is positioned for insertion intothe bottom portion (above the bottom wall 7) of the housing 2. A rearportion 22 of the base member 4 will be seated on a support structure 24that has been included on the bottom wall 7 of the housing. The basemember 4 includes a plurality of divider positioning cavities labeled 15a to 15 h.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the top wall 3 of the housing includesslots 18 a to 18 h having a configuration that matches the cavities 15 ato 15 h of the base member 4. Thus, the top wall functions as analignment member for positioning the dividers 14. In particular, theproduct display device 20 is assembled by first connecting the basemember 4 to the interior of the housing, and then inserting theplurality of dividers 14 through the slots 18 a to 18 h from above thehousing 2. As described above, the base member 4 may be snap fit, gluedor otherwise secured into place within the housing 2.

The plurality of divider positioning cavities 15 a to 15 h and 18 a to18 h are operatively associated with the first and second ends 14 a, 14b of the dividers 14 and these cavities allow placement of the dividersin a predetermined configuration or configurations to accommodate adesired size of products. As shown, placement of the dividers in theillustrated configuration permits products having footprints A, B, C andD to be stacked within the housing 2 of the assembled product displaysystem. Of course, other configurations could be used, and thus otherproduct sizes could be accommodated. In addition, it is contemplatedthat a pattern of cavities could be provided in both the top wall 3 andin the base member 4 that permits flexibility in defining the productchannels that are formed when the dividers 14 are inserted within thehousing 2.

Furthermore, as also mentioned above, the dividers could have othercross-sectional shapes. In addition, a portion of one or both tips ofends 14 a and/or 14 b could have a reduced size to facilitate fittingthe divider into a cavity, and to enable each divider to be firmlyseated within a cavity. It should also be understood that the cavitiesmay be vacuum-formed so that a base exists for supporting each dividerend portion. But one or more cavities could also be a through-slot sothat, for example, a divider will rest upon the bottom wall 7 of thehousing 2 when in place. In addition, in a preferred embodiment, thehousing 2, base member 4 and the dividers 14 are made of a durable,resilient plastic (but other materials could also be used as mentionedabove). Moreover, in the implementation shown in FIG. 3, an optionalcover (not shown) could be provided to be attached on top of the topwall 3 after insertion of the dividers 14 to hide the slots 18 a and 18h and provide a neat appearance for the product display 20.

FIG. 4A is a perspective front view of another alternate embodiment of aproduct display system 30, and FIG. 4B is a simplified diagram that ispartially cutaway to illustrate how dividers 40 would be inserted intothe housing 32 shown in FIG. 4A. The product display system 30 also maybe shipped to a co-packer or to a product manufacturer for assembly at aproduct site, such as a warehouse. Such a product display kit wouldinclude the housing 32 which may be provided as a flat or planar formwith scored sections that enable folding of the form to produce thehousing, along with a plurality of dividers 40 and a front panel 5(shown in FIG. 1). When assembled, the housing 32 may have dimensionsthat are the same as or similar to that of the housing of FIG. 1, or maybe of other dimensions.

The housing 32 may be made of a paper product such as corrugated board,durable cardboard stock, corrugated cardboard, or a paper compositematerial, which can be prepared so that it is easy to fold to form thegenerally rectangular shape of the housing. In particular, the housingis of one-piece construction, having a rear wall 11 and side walls 8 and9 that include pre-cut and pre-scored sections to facilitate foldinginto place. The top wall 3 includes alignment member 31 having analignment portion 33 and a tab portion 34 that are folded underneath thetop wall in the direction of arrow “A”. The tab portion 34 may beadhesively attached to the rear wall 11, and the alignment portion 33includes a plurality of slots or cavities labeled A1 to A4 and B1 to B3.A bottom portion of side wall 8 has been cutaway in FIG. 4 to illustratethe various portions of the base member 35. In particular, the basemember 35 has a front panel portion 36, a seating portion 37 and afolded over support portion 38. In this embodiment, the base member 35is an integral part of the housing and may be adhesively or otherwisesecured to the side walls 8 and 9. However, the base member 35 need notbe glued to the sidewalls, as it may include tabs (not shown) that wouldfit into slots that have been pre-cut in the side walls 8 and 9, forexample, to secure all of the parts to form the housing 30. The basemember 35 includes a plurality of divider positioning cavities or slotsthat have also been labeled A1 to A4 and B1 to B3 that match thoseformed on the alignment portion 33. These cavities or slots providechoices for positioning the dividers, giving the co-packer or otherassembly person the flexibility to arrange dividers to accommodateproducts of various sizes. It should be understood that in a preferredembodiment the entire housing 30 can be assembled without any glue oradhesive.

FIG. 4B illustrates how the dividers 40 would be inserted into thehousing 32. In this embodiment, the dividers 40 have Y-shapedcross-sections, and a first end 40 a is inserted into one of thecavities or slots A1 to A4 or B1 to B3 in the base member, and then thesecond end 40 b is inserted into the matching cavity in the alignmentmember 31. If the material of the housing has a memory, the alignmentportion 33 will act as a spring that has a bias in a direction oppositeto that of the arrow “A” of FIG. 4A. Thus, the dividers 40 will berigidly held in place to thus function to support the products placedwithin the housing 32.

The configuration of slots or cavities A1 to A4 and B1 to B4 areillustrative only, and alternate divider implementations are possible toaccommodate different products of various sizes. Furthermore, as alsomentioned above, the dividers could have other cross-sectional shapes.In addition, one or both tips of ends 40 a and/or 40 b could have areduced size to facilitate fitting the divider into the alignmentmember, and to enable each divider to be firmly seated within a cavity.The ends of the other dividers illustrated and described herein couldalso include such reduced size or smaller footprint. It should also beunderstood that the cavities of the various embodiments disclosed hereinmay be vacuum-formed so that a base exists for supporting each dividerend portion. But each cavity may also be a through-slot so that, forexample, the dividers rest upon the bottom wall 7 of the housing 2 orthe top wall 3 when in place. Alternatively, if the products to beinserted into the product display are heavy, supports could be providedon top of the bottom wall 7 to reinforce the top surface of the basemember 4 so that a stack of the heavy products can be accommodated, andso that the product display will be able to withstand prolonged use.

It should be understood that the product display embodiments describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4B may be loaded with heavy items,such as shampoo containers or tomato sauce jars, and then shipped toretail outlets. Under such circumstances, the dividers 14 and/or 40 thatare used to separate and locate the products must also be designed towithstand shipment of such heavy products when the product display islaid on its back during shipment. Moreover, the dividers may be requiredto support the heavy products during shipment without breakage to eitherthe product containers or to the dividers themselves. Additionaldividers could be supplied and located behind or underneath the heavyproducts to act as a support during shipment, and to support the itemsduring display in some cases. Provision could be made in the base memberand in the alignment member so that such additional dividers arecentered behind the products, and these additional dividers would beinserted into the housing during assembly in the same manner describedabove.

FIG. 5 is a perspective front view of yet another embodiment of aproduct display system 50. The product display system 50 may be referredto as a power wing display, a peg wall module or a slat wall module,depending on the type of store fixture upon which it will be affixed.The product display system 50 includes an alignment member 52, a basemember 56 and dividers 60. The alignment member 52 and base member 56both include rearward facing mounting clips 54 that may be designed forattachment to a surface of a wing rack (not shown), or for attachment toother types of fixtures typically found in a retail store. The basemember 56 includes a plurality of cavities 57 arranged in apredetermined pattern, and the alignment member 52 includescorresponding cavities or slots (not shown) in its bottom surface. Thedividers 60 shown in FIG. 5 have a Y-shaped cross section and are fittedinto the cavities when the product display 50 is attached, for example,to a wing rack. If additional rigidity or display support is desired ornecessary, support rods (not shown) could be used to connect the sideedges of the alignment and base members. But the mounting clips 54 areshaped and arranged so that when engaged with a fixture such as a wingrack, the alignment member 52 and base member 56 acquire the strength ofthe underlying rack in its product support capacity. In a contemplatedimplementation, the base and alignment members are identical components.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a productdisplay system 70. The product display system 70 may also be utilized asa power wing display, and includes an alignment member 72, a base member76, a template 78 and dividers 75. The alignment member 72 and basemember 76 both include rearward facing mounting clips 71 that may bedesigned for attachment to a surface of a wing rack (not shown) or otherfixture typically found in a retail store. The base member 76 includes aplurality of pins or bosses 74 that are shown arranged in a gridconfiguration, but other configurations with less or more bosses or pinsare also possible. The pins or bosses 74 are operatively associated withthe dividers 75 to provide different placements of divider locationsthereon. The template 78 fits into the base member 76 on top of the gridof bosses, and includes a predefined pattern of slots 79 to define wherethe dividers 75 should be inserted. The alignment member 72 includescavities or slots (not shown) in its bottom surface that correspond tothe pattern on the template. In an implementation, the alignment membermay be supplied with an identical template.

The dividers 75 shown in FIG. 6 have an L-shaped cross section, butother shapes such as a T-shape could be used. The dividers 75 are fittedinto the slots in the template 78 and pushed downwards between thebosses 74, which may function to grip the dividers in the base member76. Thus, if the product display is going to be changed to supportdifferent size products, the dividers 75 can be pulled out of theirformer locations and then relocated to different positions by utilizinga different template 78 that defines a different predetermined patternthat utilizes different bosses, and by using a different alignmentmember 72.

In an alternate variation, the same alignment member could be used inconjunction with a second template that is identical to the one usedwith the base member to guide and support the dividers 75 whenassembling the product display. In particular, one of the templates maybe associated with the base unit 76 as described above, and the othermay be made out of a fairly rigid material and configured for connectionto the surface 73 associated with the alignment member 72 to providealignment and sufficient support for the dividers.

It should be understood that the structure of the components shown inFIGS. 5 and 6 could be modified to fit within a housing similar to thatdescribed above with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4. For example, theclips 71 associated with the alignment member 72 and base member 76could be removed, and those components plus the dividers 75 could all beconfigured to fit within a housing such as the housing 2 shown in FIG.2. Alternately, the alignment member 72 and base member 76 could bedesigned to be integral with a housing, in a manner similar to thatdescribed with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the product display system 80installed in a retail store wing rack 82. In particular, the housing isseated in the wing rack so that products 86 can be dispensed from thebottom portion of the display, on top of the base element 84. The frontpanel 85 may contain artwork, advertising or other promotional material.Products 86 are stacked in columns inside the housing 2 behind the frontpanel 85, and when a consumer removes a product, another of the sameitem drops down under the force of gravity to rest on the base member84. The product display 80 is depicted in FIG. 7 as capable ofdispensing products 86 contained within small boxes, but othercontainers such as jars and cans of different sizes and shapes couldalso be housed and dispensed. The base member 84 may includeindentations or be otherwise configured to seat the boxed products 86.It should be understood that such a product display 80 could also beconfigured to be affixed to a slat wall fixture made of alternatingslats in a retail store, and then it would be called a slat wall module.In addition, the product display 80 could include hardware for affixingit to a peg wall fixture of a retail store, and then it would be acalled a peg wall module.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment 90 of the product display systemshown installed in a retail store “stadium” cut tray 91. The productdisplay 90 is referred to as a stadium cut tray because it providesangled seating for products contained therein. In particular, the backwall of the product display (not shown) is angled at approximately 15°to the horizontal, which may be a retail store countertop, to permit theboxed products 96 loaded within the housing to easily slide to thebottom when a consumer removes a box to purchase it. The dispensing areaof the stadium cut tray is at the front of the product display, and thecover 95 obscures the amount of product that is left within the display90 so that an appealing appearance is maintained even when most of theproducts that were retained therein have been dispensed.

It should be understood that all of the product display systemspresented herein could be suitable for use by retailers, wholesalers,manufacturers or any others requiring an easy to assemble, inexpensiveand durable product display. Simple assembly and low material costs areachieved by using a small number of common or shared internal dividerswith a standard size outside tray or housing. Such a product displaysystem could be made of any number of desired materials to match anybudget and any marketplace. In particular, any of the disclosedembodiments could be made from a paper product such as corrugated board,durable cardboard stock or a paper composite material, which can beprepared so that it is easy to fold to form the generally rectangularshape of the housing or the shapes of the alignment and base members.Use of such paper product materials lowers costs, especially whencompared to prior art product displays of this type which typically usedmore costly materials that required special tooling and longer assemblytime. The factors considered when choosing the material in which tofabricate a product display system according to the invention includedurability, retail life span, product perception, retail environment andbudget constraints.

The product displays described herein could also be made of a durableplastic, a polymer material, or a rubberized material which wouldpotentially allow the product display to be reused many times. If thesame or even if different products are to be loaded into such a reusableproduct display, a co-packer or retail store employee need only replacethe cover to make the display appear to look like new again.

It should also be understood that the manufacturing processes used tomake the various components may include any of vacuum forming a plasticmaterial, die cutting a material, using injection molding and all othertypes of molding to form a component, heat bending, wood routing andother manufacturing processes known to those skilled in the art. Suchmanufacturing processes could be used alone or in any combination.

A number of embodiments of the invention have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the followingclaims.

1. A product display system, comprising: a plurality of elongateddividers having sufficient rigidity to resist bending and to provideguidance of products placed between adjacent dividers; a base memberhaving a plurality of divider positioning cavities operativelyassociated with a first end of the divider which allow placement of thedividers in a predetermined configuration to accommodate a desired sizeof products; an alignment member for receiving a second end of thedivider and for retaining the dividers in the predeterminedconfiguration.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a housingfor securing the base member and alignment member thereto, wherein thehousing further comprises a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall,a second side wall, and a rear wall.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the base member has a product support surface that is angledtowards the rear wall to aid in retaining products therein and the rearwall is of a size to form an opening used for dispensing products. 4.The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a front panel forattachment to a front portion of the housing, the front panel havingdimensions to form an opening above the base member for dispensing ofproducts and further comprising at least one support element forsupporting one or more portions of the base member.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the housing, base member and alignment member are ofone piece construction which is of a substantially planar form that hasbeen pre-cut and pre-scored to facilitate assembly.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the alignment member includes a surface that is biasedtowards the base member when the product display is assembled and thesurface of the alignment member includes a pattern of cavities thatcorrespond to the pattern of cavities of the base member.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 6, wherein the surface includes at least one cut thatdefines separate surface portions of cavities to facilitate bending whendividers are installed.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thealignment member includes a pattern of slots that correspond to thepattern of cavities of the base member and forms an upper internalboundary of the display system.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, furthercomprising a cover for placement on the top wall to obscure the slots toprovide a neat appearance for the product display.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the dividers have at least one of a substantially C, D,H, J, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, or other geometric, cross-sectional shape.11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one end portion of thedividers has a reduced shape to facilitate seating in a cavity.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the base member and the alignment memberare configured such that the dividers are snap-fit thereto and thedividers are configured to provide uninterrupted vertical movement ofproducts placed between adjacent dividers.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the dividers, the base member and the alignment member are allmade of the same material and the material comprises at least one of apaper composite material, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, plastic,rubber, fiberglass, metal or a composite material.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of the base member and the alignmentmember comprises a plastic material and at least one of the base memberand the alignment member includes a predefined pattern of cavities thathave been vacuum formed.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at leastone of the base member and the alignment member includes a predefinedpattern of cavities that are through holes or slots.
 16. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the product display is configured for use as atleast one of a wing rack display, a stadium cut tray, a peg wall module,or a slat wall module.
 17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the basemember includes a plurality of pins or bosses which are operativelyassociated with the dividers to provide different placements of dividerlocations thereon.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising atemplate containing a predetermined pattern associated with the basemember, the template providing placement of the dividers in apredetermined configuration to accommodate a desired size of product tobe displayed, an alignment member for receiving a second end of thedivider and for retaining the dividers in a predetermined configuration,and a housing for securing the base member and alignment member therein.